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POLITICO Junkies: Obamacare funding vs. government shutdown

The tensions on Capitol Hill are high, as legislative achievements are low.

The anger, frustration and disappointment was exposed after the House Republican leadership pulled a transportation spending bill from the floor this week because funding levels were too high for some, too low for others. Instead of recalibrating, House Republicans moved onto a series of bills aimed at stopping what they consider government abuse — legislation that dovetails with their August messaging.

Rep. Tom Latham (R-Iowa), the chair of the subcommittee that wrote the bill, stood up at a Wednesday afternoon meeting and yelled at attendees — including his best friend, Speaker John Boehner — “this is bullshit,” referring to leadership pulling his bill without warning.

Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.), so frustrated by the stymied pace of spending bills, said he won’t pen a year-long continuing resolution, and his committee will not vote for it. The House has passed just four of 12 appropriations bills.

As Congress leaves town for a five-week recess, it faces no shortage of unsolved challenges. There is no clear strategy for funding the government beyond Sept. 30 and lifting the debt ceiling, the two fiscal fights looming in the fall.

Another big battle is how the sequester and its automatic budget cuts play out in 2014. House Republicans want to replace steep cuts with entitlement changes but continue to take a hard line on non-defense spending. Democrats and some Senate Republicans oppose this tack and would be willing to consider new revenue.

There’s not even agreement on the level at which the government will be funded: House Republicans want to set spending at a level of $967 billion, and Senate Democrats are aiming for $1.058 trillion. How long will a stop-gap bill last? There’s no agreement on that either.

This is all rooted in the chambers’ inability to pass spending bills. After the House pulled its transportation bill, the Senate rejected its own transportation bill written by Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine). Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) whipped Republicans to oppose the legislation, arguing that it would violate the 2011 Budget Control Act that birthed the sequester.

Collins was the only Republican to support the bill. McConnell indicated the bill’s failure is evidence of the firm stance he will take entering the bruising fall negotiations.

“This vote is of symbolic significance going into the fall, when we all obviously have the inevitable discussion about how to fund the government,” McConnell said.

All of this inaction has some people fed up. One House Republican is so mad, he’s openly defying his leadership. Rep. Scott Rigell (R-Va.) is so angry Congress is leaving town, he voted against a rule (a procedural motion to bring a bill to the floor). He spent part of Thursday fielding calls from leadership, urging him to change his mind. He said he wouldn’t.

“It’s intense,” Rigell said, describing his frustration level. “I’m a businessman turned public servant. It’s irreconcilable what would happen in the private sector in a situation like this. Here we are, we’ve clearly, in the House of Representatives, we have not met, I believe, our fiduciary duty, what’s clearly laid out and expected of us, and reasonably expected of us, which is to pass all 12 appropriations bills.”